3013

by Kali Argent

  He’d never spoken to her with such harshness, and she didn’t know how to respond at first. He worried for her, she could see that, but something else had taken hold of him.

  “What has gotten into you?”

  Falling into an armchair in the corner, he dropped his face into his hands and shook his head. “I couldn’t bear it,” he whispered. “If it was you who went missing. If it had been your body found in the forest. Thinking about you cold and alone, hunted like some animal. I can’t.”

  “But it wasn’t,” she responded gently, crossing the room to kneel at his feet on the wooden floor. “I’m right here, my darling.” Taking his hands, she pulled them away from his face and lifted them to her own. “See? Feel that? Warm and breathing.”

  Sion shuddered. It could so easily have been Rya. He didn’t want to guess how many times she’d been in the company of Sentry Allbright, or how many opportunities there had been for the guard to harm her. The thought sped his pulse, and his stomach did a slow roll, forcing bile up into his throat. Against magic, he could do nothing. No matter how big or strong or fast he was, he’d never be able to protect her from everything.

  “I can’t lose you.” He wouldn’t survive it. He wouldn’t want to.

  “You won’t,” she answered confidently. “I’m made of tougher stuff than you think.”

  She tried for levity, but he couldn’t find amusement in the situation. “If something happened to you...” He trailed off, unable to speak the words.

  Oddly, Rya smiled at him. “It’s okay. I feel the same way.”

  She couldn’t. Her magic protected her to some degree, and she couldn’t comprehend the agonizing uselessness he felt. “I can’t protect you.”

  “I don’t need you to, and that’s not what I meant.” Rising up on her knees, she pressed their lips together in a slow, sensual kiss that did little to ease his racing heartbeat. “I love you, too.”

  “I didn’t—I never said—”

  Rya was beautiful in both body and spirit with a smile that brightened any room she entered. She was unwaveringly kind and fair, and she always sought out the good in people, even when they didn’t deserve it. Anyone would be so lucky to find such a mate, but that didn’t mean he loved her. Did he?

  Instead of listing all of Rya’s noteworthy and admirable qualities, he turned inward to inspect his own feelings. Every time he saw her, he stopped breathing, just for a moment. Each morning, he woke up with her by his side, the sun shining on her flawless skin, and he felt...happy, blessed beyond anything he deserved.

  He barely remembered the person he’d been before he’d met her, or the loneliness that had plagued him. For so long, he’d been resistant to let her close, fighting a losing battle, and knowing all the while it was pointless. In his limited experience, he had to look out for himself because no one else would, and he’d been convinced that no one could love him. How could they? He was a surly, selfish bastard with no patience and a short temper.

  After the Hunt, he’d shielded himself with sarcasm and wit. If he didn’t let anyone in, no one could hurt him. If he pretended not to care, no one would see how much he did.

  Even when no one else had—not Ivy or Tariq or Cami—Rya had seen him spiraling deeper into an endless abyss, and she’d reached out and offered a lifeline. From the darkness, she’d pulled him into her light, and instead of empty blackness, there was vibrant, vivid color. She’d saved him when no one thought he was worth saving, and she offered hope where there had been none.

  He’d move mountains for her if she wished it. On a strange planet that didn’t make sense, he didn’t fear the unknown, because she was his world, the one thing in his whole life that had ever mattered enough for him to risk everything. The one thing worth dying for.

  “I love you.”

  Rya just smiled.

  “You knew,” he accused.

  So much awe tinged his voice, as if the revelation had surprised him, but yes, Rya had known for a while. She’d felt it in every kiss, heard it in the way he said her name, and seen it every time he stared at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. He could hide from himself, but not her.

  “Wait.” Holding her face just inches from his own, he searched her eyes. “You said you love me.”

  “I did.” Her smile stretched so wide it burned her cheeks.

  “Why?”

  “How could I not?”

  Fate had brought them together, but even the ancestors couldn’t fabricate something as pure and multi-faceted as love. She loved him because he wasn’t perfect, because he didn’t try to be. Sion spoke his mind, even when what he had to say wasn’t popular.

  He treated her as an equal.

  Even when it was hard, even when every part of him rebelled, he always tried to do the right thing. He carried the weight of several worlds on his shoulders, and yet, he never complained, never insisted someone else share the burden. He took care of her, protected her, but he didn’t shield her from the ugly truths of life like her brother or Fawkes.

  He called her princess.

  In his eyes, she was deserving of respect and admiration, and it made her want to be that person, the female he already thought she was. With him, she could do anything, face anything. Falling in love with him had been as easy as breathing, and that love made her stronger, braver.

  “Sion, I love you, and if you’ll have me, I’d like to bond with you in the way of the Xenon.”

  “We’ll go right now,” he promised. “Whenever you’re ready.” His eyelashes fluttered, and his eyes went to her neck. “I love you, and if you’ll have me” —he laughed when she poked him in the chest— “I’d claim you in the way of the Helios.” His thumb caressed the side of her neck in steady strokes. “The bite doesn’t hurt, or so I’ve been told. When it’s complete, you’ll be able to hear my thoughts, and I’ll hear yours.”

  “And there will be no secrets between us.”

  “I understand if you’re not ready for that.”

  “Yes.” She kissed him once, twice, a third time. “Yes.”

  With a purely possessive growl, Sion pulled her up from the floor and into his lap, slanting his mouth against hers in a kiss that set her afire. His tongue delved deep, exploring, searching, and his hands fisted in her dress, tugging roughly in an effort to get even closer.

  Consumed by him, she barely heard the rip of her clothing, only vaguely felt the cool air of the room against her bare flesh. The chill vanished quickly when he pushed the torn fabric away to map the expanse of her back, her hips, down her arms, and up her thighs. His hands were everywhere, touching, teasing, groping, stoking the embers of her lust.

  Skimming his fingers up her side, he cupped the swell of her breast, massaging the flesh roughly. Arching against the back of the chair, he rocked his hips, grinding against her, his trapped erection grazing over her clit with every thrust. His intensity stole her breath as her heart pounded up into her throat.

  Trembling with need, she couldn’t think, couldn’t concentrate. She pulled at his tunic, desperate to touch him, to feel his warm skin beneath her fingers. It would have been easy to use magic to remove his clothing, to give them what they both needed, but she didn’t. Instinctively, she knew this time there could be no shortcuts, not even a simple one. Instead, she lifted the tunic up his sculpted torso and over his head, tossing it to the floor behind her.

  It still wasn’t enough. “More.”

  With his arms around her, Sion lunged to his feet. Instead of heading for the bed, he spun her sharply, pressing her chest to the wall. Her breasts tingled, and her nipples harden against the cool stone. The strength of her need made her legs shake, and she flexed her fingers, trying to grip the wall to remain upright as moisture slicked her core.

  Then, Sion returned, encircling her waist with one powerful arm and blanketing her back with his big body. His naked cock, thick and pulsing, brushed against her upturned ass, pulling a strangled moan from deep in her throat. She pushed back into him
, begging without words to be filled.

  “Is this what you want?” Sion sounded more animal than man when he parted her wet folds with the tip of his cock, pausing at her entrance. “You are mine. Only mine. Always mine.”

  “Yes. Always.”

  With a roar that shook the windows, he snapped his hips forward, driving into her depths. Wild and frenzied, they came together, their cries competing in volume, their skin damp with perspiration. Hard and fast, almost roughly, Sion plunged into her, and Rya welcomed the stretched of her inner walls and the bruising grip on her waist. Splaying her hands against the stone wall, she rocked back, taking him deeper with each thrust.

  They couldn’t seem to get enough of each other, and every coupling was just as intense and untamed as the last. She didn’t know if the feelings would ebb with time, but she hoped they never did. There was something darkly appealing about losing control and being so desperate for each other.

  Tingles rippled down her spine, and her skin heated as he climbed higher, chasing the release that dangled just out of reach. When Sion’s arm slid over her hips, and his fingers dipped between her spread thighs, her legs trembled uncontrollably. Unerringly, he found her clit, rubbing the bundle of nerves in tight, hard circles that undid her.

  Throwing her head back against his shoulder, she screamed, a sound that had never let her mouth before, and bucked into his hand. The pressure built, her muscles tensed, and her center clamped around his invading length.

  “Mine,” Sion growled again before embedding his canines into her neck, just above the apex of her shoulder.

  Rya shattered, the pleasure so intense it bordered on pain, and she never wanted it to end. All too soon, Sion extracted his fangs, his movements slowing before finally halting. A warm, sticky wetness trickled down the inside of her thighs, and when she realized what it meant, she wanted him all over again.

  “Now you, princess.” Gently, he cupped her jaw, turning her face up to him as he scored the side of his tongue with his pointed canine.

  He kissed her tenderly, almost reverently, sliding their tongues together in an erotic dance. The faint taste of copper, of blood, tinged the kiss, completing their mating in the ways of his people.

  “I’m never letting you go, princess.”

  Hearing his voice in her mind startled her, but she rather liked speaking with him that way. It was private, intimate, something they shared with each other and no one else.

  Feeling a little possessive herself, she pinched the ends of his long hair and pulled him down for another kiss as she whispered into his mind, “Mine.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The catacombs beneath the manor stretched for miles in every direction, remnants of a time long past. Pillars and archways adorned with intricate carvings lined the tunnels, and jewels of every size and color gleamed in the torchlight. Sion saw the beauty in the tunnels, but they couldn’t compare to his mate.

  In the center of the catacombs, in a circular room with a dome-shaped ceiling, he stood in front of a porcelain fountain dotted with green and yellow flowers Rya had called iscel. The blooms floated atop the still waters, the petals shimmering in the candlelight that flickered from the chandelier overhead.

  At the very top of the white fountain sat an empty circle that usually housed the Adderstone. Each island had their own stone, each one different, and all infused with great magic. Until recently, it had been believed that the Adderstone powered the Isles. Now, they knew the stones only amplified the magic already present. Ivy had theorized the source of the Xenons’ magic began with the water, but so far, they’d had no way to test it.

  “Are you ready?” Rya asked, stepping in front of him.

  He nodded, taking her hand that held the Adderstone and clasping the amber gem between them. No one could explain exactly what would happen, but supposedly, the energy from the stone would bind them together, one heart, one soul, for all of eternity. It didn’t matter how it worked, not to him, just so long as it did.

  To their right, Ivy wept openly, though she blamed it on pregnancy hormones. Kai smiled and mouthed apologies as he comforted her. Standing near the entrance, alert as always, Tira watched on with a smile of her own, while Garrik covered a smaller door on the opposite side of the room. Kai’s personal attendant, Lorcan Graystone, stood with the Vasili, his expression carefully neutral, and somewhere behind Rya, Fawkes sniffed audibly.

  “I promise to love you every day until my last breath,” Rya began, her smile bright enough to rival the glow of the Adderstone. “I will soothe every hurt, mend every old wound, and be your light in the darkness.” A single tear trickled down her cheek, and with her free hand, she traced her fingertips over the starburst-shaped scars on her neck, physical proof of his claim on her. “You’re everything I ever wanted, everything I didn’t know I was missing, and I can think of no one else with whom I’d rather spend the rest of my days. From now until forever, I am yours.”

  “I love you,” she whispered into his mind. “Always.”

  “Always,” he sent back.

  At first, he’d been worried that having her poking around in his head would feel like an invasion, but the opposite had proven true. Hearing her in his mind and seeing into her thoughts was a level of intimacy he’d never shared with anyone else, and if possible, it made him love her even more.

  “I promise to love you every day until my last breath.” He’d never been good with words, but for her, he’d try. “I was lost in the dark until you found me. I don’t deserve you, but I’ll never stop trying to be worthy.” His heart pounded hard against his ribs, and everything except Rya faded away. “I’d conquer galaxies to keep you safe, and I’d capture the stars if it would make you smile. From now until forever, I am yours.”

  “I’m never letting you go, princess.”

  “I’ll hold you to it.” Rya winked when their guests looked at each other in confusion.

  She muttered words under her breath, a binding chant in the language of their ancestors. As she spoke, bright, golden light streamed from the Adderstone, twisting around their wrists in everlasting knots. When the light faded and the gem dulled, Sion wrapped an arm around her hips and tugged her close, slanting their mouths together in a kiss that promised everything he hadn’t said.

  The cavernous room erupted in cheers, and Ivy pried him away from Rya to wrap him in a hug made awkward by her ever-expanding belly.

  “I know you don’t believe it yet, but you deserve to be happy,” she whispered in his ear. “I’m so proud of you.”

  Startled by her words, he squeezed her a little tighter and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. “You’re like the sister I never wanted.”

  His smartass remark earned him a solid punch to the chest and a hearty laugh. “I was having a moment. Way to ruin it, asshole.”

  “That’s me. Breaking hearts and ruining moments. Because...goals.”

  “Behave,” Rya chastised him from across the room. “You shouldn’t provoke her. Pregnant or not, she can probably still kick your ass.”

  “Probably,” Sion muttered. He respected the hell out of Ivy, and she was one of the fiercest warriors he’d ever known.

  “What?” Ivy frowned, and her eyebrows drew together.

  “Nothing.” He grinned, showing off his fangs. “Nothing at all.”

  Rya glided over to them then, Lorcan following half a step behind her. “Ivy, you look beautiful!”

  “You’re a terrible liar.” With a smile of her own, she pulled Rya into a hug. “I love you for trying, though.”

  “What? I mean it.” Standing back, Rya turned to Sion expectantly. “Doesn’t she look beautiful?”

  “Oh, no.” Holding his hands up in surrender, he took a measured step back. “I’m not touching this one.”

  No matter what he said, he was screwed, and he wouldn’t fall into that trap.

  Rolling her eyes, Rya turned to Lorcan instead. “Tell her.”

  The attendant cleared his throat and smoothed
back his dark hair. He looked uncomfortable at being asked for his opinion, but he answered diplomatically. “Yes, of course. You’re both very lovely, and your soulmates are lucky males indeed.”

  Sidling up to them, Kai wound his arm around Ivy and bent low to kiss her stomach. “A fact I’m reminded of every day.” Standing straight, he caressed her cheek, his eyes soft and tender. “How are you feeling, dove?”

  “I’m fine. You worry too much.” She reached up to pat his hand that still rested on her cheek. “I just need a minute with Sion and Rya.”

  Kai congratulated them again on their bonded status and motioned for Lorcan to accompany him to speak with Tira.

  “Of course, Vasili.” With a smile, Lorcan bowed low. “Until our next meeting, Vasera Clearwater.” He paused, still bent over, and frowned. “I’m sorry. Vasera Jabari.”

  “No.” Sion shook his head firmly. “You were correct the first time. It’s Vasera Clearwater.”

  “Sion?” Worry lines creased Rya’s forehead, and she squeezed his hand a little harder than necessary.

  “On Helix, males take the surname of their female companions. I know we’re not on Helix, but it’s one tradition I’d like to keep.” He had no emotional ties to his last name, and in fact, he liked the idea of shedding his old identity. “Sentry Clearwater sounds good, yeah?”

  “Vasere Clearwater,” Rya corrected with a smirk. “Yes, I think that sounds very nice.”

  “That whole telepathy thing is freaky,” Ivy commented watching a very confused Lorcan hurry across the room. “I’m kind of jealous.”

  Sion snorted. “What do you want, Ivy?”

  “Okay, look, I know this is horrible timing, but I really need to ask a favor of you.”

  “Anything,” Rya answered before Sion could stop her. “What do you need?”

  Conspiratorially, Ivy lowered her voice, urging them farther away from the rest of the group. “There’s a young female on the new space station who needs what you might call political asylum. It’s a long story, and I don’t know all the details. She’s hiding at the Krytos’ sanctuary on X21, but she can’t stay there forever.”